Daniel Willis

Concord

Data Journalist at EdSource

Music Journalist at RIFF Magazine

Bluesky: @bayareadata.press | Others: https://t.co/DcHJWKnwfT

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Articles

ALBUM REVIEW: Garbage looks for the bright side on 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light'

2 weeks ago | riffmagazine.com | Daniel Willis

Butch Vig founded Garbage in 1995 after producing, among other all-time classic albums, Sonic Youth’s Dirty, Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, L7’s Bricks are Heavy and Nirvana’s Nevermind. He was tired of producing bands that were just guitars, bass and drums, and wanted to get creative, so he recruited Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Shirley Manson.
ALBUM REVIEW: Chuck D flexes his lyrical mastery on 'Radio Armageddon'

3 weeks ago | riffmagazine.com | Daniel Willis

You know Chuck D. He and his counterpart Flavor Flav have been the founders and constant members of legendary hip-hop group and protest music legends Public Enemy for 40 years. If you’re not familiar with Fear of a Black Planet you should go to your streaming service of choice and listen to it right now. We’ll be here when you get back. Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio: Radio ArmageddonChuck DDef Jam, May 167/10Get the album on Amazon Music.
Numerous districts don’t heed federal advice to bar police from enforcing school rules

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Thomas Peele |Daniel Willis

Policing experts say that discipline is the responsibility of school administrators, not law enforcement.Many California school districts’ contracts for policing services do not prohibit officers from involvement in routine student disciplinary matters, despite the federal government’s guidance that administrators are responsible for handling those issues, an EdSource investigation found.
How we obtained and examined contracts for school resource officers

1 month ago | edsource.org | Daniel Willis

We began by sending requests for contracts and memoranda of understanding with law enforcement agencies under the California Public Records Act to nearly 20% – 178 – school districts across the state, in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Calling the Cops InvestigationEditor’s Note: This is a continuing investigation into school policing in California.
ALBUM REVIEW: Ghost revisits its old sounds on 'Skeletá'

1 month ago | riffmagazine.com | Daniel Willis

One wonders how much panic is happening around Skeletá, the latest album by Ghost. Not because it’s not good—it’s very good—but because of an awkward coincidence. See, Ghost is as much performance art as a band. It’s based around the United Clergy of Ghost, a Satanic church tasked with destroying Christianity, that uses the band to try to achieve that end. The band’s frontmen (all played by Ghost’s mastermind Tobias Forge) are named Papa Emeritus and dress like an evil Pope with skull paint.
UPDATE: Judge orders temporary stop to Sonoma State academic cuts

1 month ago | edsource.org | Karen D'Souza |Yuxuan Xie |Justin Allen |Daniel Willis

A superior court judge has asked Sonoma State University to temporarily halt a plan that would discontinue 22 majors and six academic programs as part of a maneuver to plug the university’s almost $24 million budget shortfall. Judge Kenneth English’s temporary restraining order comes in response to a request by seven Sonoma State student-athletes, who sued the university to interrupt a proposal that also eliminates all NCAA Division II sports at the university.
UPDATE: L.A. Community College trustee is the latest candidate for state superintendent of public instruction

1 month ago | edsource.org | Karen D'Souza |Yuxuan Xie |Justin Allen |Daniel Willis

A Los Angeles Community College District trustee and labor leader announced her candidacy this week for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in what could be a crowded race in 2026 to succeed Tony Thurmond. Nichelle Henderson is a former middle school teacher at Compton Unified, who currently works at Cal State Los Angeles as a faculty adviser and clinical field supervisor with the Cal State TEACH teacher preparation program.
Tuesday Tracks: Dustin Douglas & the Electric Gentlemen, Spacey Jane, Dropsonic

1 month ago | riffmagazine.com | Daniel Willis

This week, Spacey Jane welcomes us to summer; Dustin Douglas & the Electric Gentlemen, Dropsonic and Gasoline Lollipops bring the rock, Mobley gives us some throwback soul and Activity shows us the art of a really good bass line. Spacey Jane, “Through My Teeth” — A couple of us thought we’d featured Spacey Jane in Tuesday Tracks a lot more recently than we did, but the band’s last appearance was way back in 2021.
ALBUM REVIEW: Clipping. perfectly captures cyberpunk with fantastic 'Dead Channel Sky'

Mar 8, 2025 | riffmagazine.com | Daniel Willis

Dead Channel Sky, the fifth album by hip-hop trio clipping., is really great. But first, a history lesson; please bear with me. Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that’s generally accepted to have begun with the movie “Blade Runner” in 1982 and William Gibson’s novel “Neuromancer” in 1984. The specifics vary wildly, but the genre is defined by a few general aesthetics. First, humanity is connected by a network of computers that’s required to function in society.
Nell Smith, Momma and The Ting Tings: Tuesday Tracks

Mar 4, 2025 | riffmagazine.com | Daniel Willis

Momma and the Ting Tings slow things down, the Gully Boys and Raue bring the rock back, Kurt Deimer brings us a new classic and Nell Smith wows with her first and final album. Momma, “Bottle Blonde” — Written about the friendship between Momma’s co-founders, co-vocalists, co-guitarists and co-songwriters Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten, “Bottle Blonde” is a brilliantly chill alternative track that serves as a love letter to their past and present selves.